Vassal Lord Tips
'Vassal Lord Tips' Vassal lords have minds of their own, and often, those minds are idiotic. Here are a few tips for reducing the aggravation of trying to get them to do what you want them to do. The Follow Command The "Follow Me" command has the most weight with a vassal lord. When they are following you, they are less distracted by roving bandits and will tend to stick with you. If, for example, you have a vassal, and you want him to go to a town (so he can dump off his prisoners, or another reason) if you give him the order to go to that town, the chances of him going directly there are low. That's because when you tell a lord to go to a place, he will do it only if he's not distracted by other things. So, you tell a lord to "Go to Marleons" and he instead instantly runs off chasing a bandit party half way across the map. The safest way to get a vassal to a place is give them the "Follow Me" command; lead them right next to the destination castle or town; wait until there are no enemy parties nearby, and then tell them to go to the town/castle. Leveling Up Lord Skills You can level up lord skills by talking with them. This goes for both lords (or ladies) that were your companions and also regular NPC lords that you recruit from other factions. Just talk to them, ask to see their skills, and level them up just like you do with yourself and your companions. The most useful lord skill you can give them is pathfinding. Being able to outrun stronger enemies and run down and catch weaker enemies is extremely important. The only downside of having vassal lords with high pathfinding skill is that sometimes it can make them hard to catch when you want to talk with them. Another useful skill is training, which will cause them to train troops more quickly. I put points into spotting too. I'm actually not 100% certain it works for AI Lords like it does for the main character, but it seems to. How to Get Them to Attack Powerful Spawn Armies We've all been there. You have gathered your forces and have an army of 1200 strong and you're ready to take on one of the Noldor lords. You approach him, and all of a sudden, your lords start running away, scattering to the winds. Your dreams of capturing Aeldarian are shattered by the cowardice of your vassals. How to keep your army from running? There are a few tricks: 1) Move slowly and keep everyone close. If the army is very close together, it's less likely that the individual lords will run. So, when you spot the target you want to attack, stop and allow your army go gather close to you before you approach the target. 2) Approach at night. Spotting distances are reduced at night. If you know your army is going to run away at the sight of your enemy, gather your army close to you, and time your approach during the night hours, so that you ideally reach your target just at dawn. Keep yourself a bit ahead of your army, so that your lords don't spot the enemy. When dawn breaks, your vassal lords will spot the enemy and will start to scatter, but if you make contact with the enemy quickly, you will initiate the battle before your army has a chance to run away. 3) Bring the enemy to a castle/town. Order all of your troops to go to a castle or town. Then, kite the enemy to the town. As soon as your target is adjacent to the castle/town that has all of your lords inside, go to the lord's hall, tell all of your vassals to follow you, then leave the town and immediately initiate the battle before your lords can run away. Category:Tips